Sniff, sample and spit

Judging goes from up-close and personal to the internet, as this year, for the first time, cheese winners will be announced live on Facebook.

First there is the good look, followed by a sniff, a sample and a spit. Then, the job to find the right words to describe what has just been experienced.

Blind? That would be a problem. Rancid? Blech. Unclean? Deserving of a finger-wagging. Dead eyes? As sad and unfortunate as it sounds.

It’s all part of the gig for judges at the World Championship Cheese Contest that begins March 6 at Monona Terrace. Fifty-three judges will gather from around the world to test 3,402 cheeses, and anyone who wants to wander in and watch can do that, and maybe even ask the judges question or two. (Hint: They’re the people dressed in white.)

“To be a judge at the world contest is really an honor,” says Jim Mueller of Green Bay, an assistant chief judge — one of the “Red Hats” overseeing the judging. “You’ve been chosen by your peers around the world to choose the best cheeses in the world.”

There are more judges than ever this year because there are more cheeses than ever in the contest sponsored by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. There are 121 categories, mostly for cheese, but a few for butter and yogurt.

The contest is a technical one, in which cheeses are judged to an ideal of what that style should be. The judging pool is made up of cheese graders, dairy scientists and industry experts from 20 countries and 15 states.

“They’re some of the best cheese minds in the country and in the world,” says John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. “To work this contest can be the peak of someone’s resume.”

Eating cheese for three days might sound like a dream to some, but it’s work — albeit enjoyable — to the judges. They work in pairs to judge four to six classes each in categories that can include anywhere from 20 cheeses to 80. Judges are asked ahead of time if they have any preferences.

“I tend to get the funky ones,” says Marianne Smukowski of the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, who judged at the last world event and is lead judge for the annual World Dairy Expo contest, among others. “There is more hot stuff now, more unusual cheeses.”

A cheese starts with 100 points, with deductions made based on USDA grading standards. Judges look at the wheel or block, use a cheese trier to pull out a piece and then sniff it. A judge might roll it in her hands to bring it further to room temperature and then pop it into her mouth. She’ll move it around her tongue to hit every taste bud before spitting it out. A judge does this not just to avoid getting full, but to get a sense of any aftertaste.

The judges’ iPad score sheet lists the defects they should look for, docking tenths of points depending on the severity of the defect. Category winners are generally in the 98- and 99-point ranges.

To dock a cheese for being rancid or unclean is self-explanatory, as are visual flaws such as being split, cracked or lopsided. “Blind” refers to a Swiss cheese that has no eyes. “Dead eyes” means a Swiss cheese has eyes that don’t shimmer.

Judges whittle category winners to 20 finalists, and from there a world champion is chosen at a public event on Thursday, March 8. This year, for the first time, judges will be camped in the cheese-sampling areas so ticket holders can ask questions.

When the contest was last held two years ago, Emmi Roth USA’s Grand Surchoix from Wisconsin took top honors. Judges’ palates are trained enough that they might know which cheese is which when they sample it, Smukowski says, but it doesn’t matter.

“We’re professionals, we’re here to do our very best,” she says. “We try to judge the cheese for what it is and not who made it.”